


Amelioration

by Kiyo_Mizuki



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Even the author is confused, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Fruits Basket au, Gai is so perceptive yet so dense, I'm Bad At Tagging, KakaGai but the Furuba version, M/M, Nothing Makes Any Sense, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Slow Burn, Why did I do this to myself?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22162816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiyo_Mizuki/pseuds/Kiyo_Mizuki
Summary: When his father dies in a tragic accident, third-year high school student Maito Gai doesn't know what to do with himself other than smile and keep moving forward. First, he's thrown into the unwelcoming arms of his mother's family. Then he ends up in the woods, living in a tent. And, just when he thinks everything has calmed down a bit, a slip of the tongue and two wrong steps gets him involved in something he never imagined was even possible.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	1. Prologue

Two months ago, Maito Gai’s father, Dai, died after being struck by a car. His sudden death forced Gai to move into a house owned by his maternal grandfather, Kotarou, and shared with other relatives from that side of the family. Dai never talked about them and it was for a good reason. They were ashamed Gai’s mother, Amane, ever had a child with a man like Dai. Someone who wasn’t financially supported, someone much younger than her as well. They disapproved of Dai and, as a result, disliked his son just as much. Living with them was in no way easy. Every day he had to endure subtle and not so subtle insults from his aunt and older cousin, speaking badly about his father’s life decisions, him, anything they could find to comment on, really. He could never bring himself to hate his family. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful for the home they had so graciously given him, but they made it difficult not to.

One month ago, Kotarou told his grandson the house would undergo renovations soon and Gai needed to find somewhere else to stay for a few weeks. Giving his father’s signature pose, an energetic thumbs-up paired with a sparkling grin, Gai assured his grandfather that everything would be fine. He would stay with one of his friends, of course. But he couldn’t. Asuma lived in a small apartment alone and Gai didn’t feel it was right to intrude in Kurenai’s home. So he did what he does best: innovate.

Three weeks ago, Gai began living in a tannish-yellow tent by a river in the woods nearby his high school, Kaibara. He brought with him a portable stove, some blankets, and almost all of his material possessions. Everything needed to be out of the house for the renovations, after all. His most important item, however, was a framed picture of his father which he placed by his bed (sleeping bag) in the tent. Living in a tent was interesting. It was still cold even with the blankets and a few nights ago a bird got into the tent and attempted to peck his eyes out when he slept, but that was all part of the beauty of nature, he supposed. Gai had always liked to go camping with his dad as a kid. They had always had fun on those trips, he made sure to remind himself. Why should this be any different?

Despite all of the horrible things that have happened to him recently, if you saw Gai at school, you’d never have guessed anything was wrong. Well, except for maybe the light bullying he received from the Sohma Fan Club girls and some of his male classmates. But Gai didn’t seem terribly phased by that either. Most of the time, he took the comments those other students made as genuine advice to help him improve. Sometimes he’d even thank them. It was unclear to the bullies, and even Gai’s friends, whether Gai was taking the moral high road or was actually dense enough to interpret their words that way. And it wasn’t as if no one would defend him, Gai always sat with his two best friends, Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yūhi. Their desks were near each other. And two boys from the other third-year class, Ebisu and Genma, would often defend him.

It was morning, classes had yet to start and the students were alone in their classroom (3-A) awaiting their teacher’s arrival. Three third-year fangirls sat at the other end of the room. Occasionally they would look at Gai then turn back to each other and laugh. Presumably, the one with her back facing Gai’s direction had said something funny, probably an insult to Gai. Gai was talking to Kurenai about her hair and didn’t notice, but Asuma did. He glared at them as he shifted his pipe from one hand to the other. That shut those girls up, they instantly stopped what they were doing, scared to proceed and make the “yankii” (as he was called) angry. This interaction made some of the other students in the room take a few steps away from Asuma. The teachers had yet to take that pipe from him, despite it being against school regulation.

“Those girls give me a headache,” Asuma sighed as he told Kurenai, who seemed to be focusing on something in the distance that no one else could see, “I’m just glad that Hatake isn’t here yet when he gets here they always—”

A high pitched squeal came out of one of the girls as a silver-haired boy with a white surgical mask came into the classroom. It was quickly followed by more squealing and one of them looked as if she was about to faint. Then a whole hoard of girls, some of them not even from 3-A, swarmed the boy.

“They always do that,” Asuma finished his sentence as he covered his ears to block out the screaming, holding the pipe between his knees to keep it upright. Kurenai’s expression barely shifted, but she was also annoyed. Though this was a daily occurrence. The arrival of the masked mystery boy, one of the prime heartthrobs of Kaibara. Ah, yes, Kakashi Hatake, the man partially responsible for Asuma’s continuous headache. 

Little is known about Kakashi except that he is seventeen years old, he never shows his face, and he is the older cousin of “Prince Neji Sohma,” the most popular boy in school. The most personal piece of information about him was received from Neji when a first-year asked him why Kakashi had a different last name than him. Neji replied that, while that wasn’t anything for her to be concerned with, Kakashi’s Sohma parent was his mother, she took his father’s last name when they married. That really is all there is to know about him.

The homeroom teacher walked in before anyone could say anything else. Those who had classes in room 3-A sat down, the others were shooed out by the teacher. Kakashi sat in one of the back desks. The class representatives took their place at the podium and began announcements. No one listened, but it was some extra time before class. Once classes actually started, the students had little time to spend paying attention to each other. The teacher was speaking quite quickly and no one wanted to miss something and fail exams later.

After school, Gai walked home. He took the same path as usual, but something was different. Were those people? It was a little later than his usual walking time, but still, he’d never seen anyone else take this route before. He always walked alone. And, was that—no it couldn’t be. That was definitely not Neji and Kakashi. No, of course not. That would be silly. Why would the two most popular boys in the entire school be walking home? Did they live also in tents? No, he shook his head slightly. Rich, perfect boys do not live in the woods. But this was the path into the woods. Did they live in the woods?

His head started to spin the more the thought about it. What business did they have in the woods? What business would anyone have in the woods? Gai was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that the older of the two boys had noticed him.

“Hey, are you… following us?” Kakashi asked him, pulling Gai back to reality. He didn’t sound like he cared much about the response. Neji also stopped to look at him.

“No, of course not!” Gai assured them, “I just, um, live around here.”

Neji seemed like he was about to say something, but Kakashi stopped him and nodded slightly. All three boys had stopped walking.

“Right, that makes sense,” he told Gai as he turned Neji back around, facing him in the direction they were previously walking. Neji reluctantly went along with it, though he was clearly annoyed with his cousin. Kakashi’s eyes shifted to look at the woods for a second as if he’d heard something, but Gai didn’t hear anything.

“Well, bye. And be careful of landslides,” Kakashi managed to say before Gai could respond. Then he and Neji began to walk, rather quickly, away down the main path. And that was the end of that. He was going to ask what Kakashi meant, but perhaps he’d have to try again some other time. As if it was possible to approach those guys at school.

After that, Gai decided to wait for them to get further away before continuing. It would be a bit awkward to follow them, especially having just being accused of following them. A few minutes passed and he walked the dirt path that lead down to the river where he’d pitched his tent. It wasn’t an actual road, the path that existed now had been formed from Gai taking it so many times to get to his makeshift home.

Really, all he wanted was to set down his things and perhaps start on the homework their math teacher had assigned. Maybe he could make some noodles too? If he remembered correctly, he had at least one pack left of them in his bag somewhere and—

There in front of him, where the tent once stood, was a pile of rocks, dirt, and all Gai’s worldly possessions. In seconds, he was on the ground digging. Was this what Kakashi meant? He didn’t know and didn’t have time to think about it any longer. His father was in there. He had to save him. Hands getting scraped by rocks, he searched for the most valuable item he owned. 

The more he dug, the more his hands hurt. But that shouldn’t matter. That picture, his father, that’s what really mattered. What would he do if he couldn’t get him back? Gai became frantic and then he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Eh, are you alright there?” Someone standing behind him asked. Gai froze, he’d been found.


	2. A Strange Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long night, Gai wakes up in a strange new place and meets some equally odd people.

Gai froze the minute something touched him. Well, actually, he had almost screamed when he felt something on his shoulder because he’d never seen people in the woods but ended up freezing mid-scream after letting out part of strangled wailing noise instead of the loud yell he’d originally intended. Such a sound that would surely be seen as rude to this person or creature, or whatever was lurking behind him. He turned around slowly, mouth hanging open, to stare at the presumably male person now standing in front of him. This stranger looked Gai up and down with slight concern. He was blond, that was his most notable feature. Gai didn’t pat attention to any other physical characteristics. This stranger was no immediate threat. Nothing personal, he just had a mission to take care of: saving his dad.

“Hey, I asked you if you’re okay?” the boy asked with a small hint of irritation in his voice, referencing his previous question. He sounded to be on the younger side, but some people do have more youthful voices. Gai wasn’t paying attention to this though. He managed to nod awkwardly to him, though he was not okay, before reaching back towards the dirt heap to continue searching for his father. Blondie tried to stop him again, being the only one, between the two of them, to notice that Gai’s efforts to save his father were pointless with the number of heavy rocks, growing darkness, and increasing cold. It was late when he’d walked home, it was even later now. Hardly an appropriate time for digging out portraits of lost loved ones from landslides. However, Gai has a one-track mind and no random boy could stop him.

Nothing can stop Maito Gai. Nothing! He was young and strong, he would save his father. Together, they would rebuild the tent and everything would be fine. Just fine. He readied himself to dig through the rest of the dirt, every last grain, but suddenly felt woozy.

“I’m serious, you know. Are you okay? You don’t look so good...” someone asked him, but they sounded far away. Was there anyone there? The world looked blurry, like an out of focus camera. His hands waved back and forth. Left. Right. Left. Right. But he wasn’t moving. Or was he? Maybe. He couldn’t quite remember. Then there was nothing, only darkness.

Gai opened his eyes. Sunlight. What day was it? Sunlight shining through a window. Hardwood floor. Oh. He was in the hallway of a house. What? No, not his grandfather’s house. And not his house either since he was technically homeless now thanks to that landslide, but someone’s home. It was a nice home from what he could see. Wait a moment. He blindly reached around himself. Where was dad? Did he leave him? How was he in a house anyway? He was sure last night really happened. But clearly, he was not out in the woods any longer. Who would help him like that? Or maybe he’d been kidnapped. That seemed more likely and in line with his terrible luck. How far was he from the tent? Where was dad?

“What the fuck?” Those were the first words he heard that morning. Those were words he would not be surprised by if he was still living with his mother’s family. Yes, such a normal exchange to have with someone who was not a mask-clad Kakashi Hatake, in a set of blue pajamas, who looked like he’d be willing to stab Gai right then and there with the nearest object, whether it be dull or pointy. So, this was Kakashi’s house?

The silver-haired man looked down at him, eyes narrowed. It was at this time that Gai realized he was lying in front of a doorway, probably in Kakashi’s way. Mumbling what was probably an apology, he sprang to his feet and out of the other man’s path.

“That idiot,” Kakashi spoke in a low voice, shaking his head as he continued out of what had to be his bedroom. Whoever this idiotic person was, Kakashi was not pleased with them. That was clear enough. But why? Did they bring Gai here?

“Ah, excuse me…?” Gai didn’t want to cause any more trouble. He would leave quickly once given the chance. Kakashi turned back to him, still annoyed. He let out a soft “hm” in response.

“Can I ask how I ended up in your...lovely home? And if you can direct me back to… where I came from?” He didn’t mention the tent, it was somewhat of a secret. Did Kakashi know? Maybe, but until someone said something a secret would remain a secret. And perhaps being nice would improve his chances of survival. Kakashi was known for being mysterious and quiet, but also being scary when angered. Gai, though he was no coward, preferred not to make enemies. He also had to think of how such a conflict would affect Asuma and Kurenai. 

“One way or another,” Kakashi chose to say, answering neither of Gai’s questions.

“Well, I just thought—” Gai began before he was cut off.

“What is  _ he _ doing here?” Neji came around the corner, glancing between the two older boys.

“Oh, hello, Sohma-san!” Gai gave an enthusiastic greeting which was met with an icy glare. Neji ignored him and addressed Kakashi again.

“Why is he here, Kakashi?”

“I seem to remember this being my house, Neji.”

“It’s your house rule that no one comes home,” Neji reminded, taking a step closer.

“Well, I didn’t bring him here,” Kakashi held up his hands innocently. This really wasn’t his fault.

“How did I come to be here?” Gai asked again, hoping for a more concise answer this time. Neji and Kakashi exchanged a knowing look.

“That idiot,” Neji rubbed his temples in frustration. Gai still had no clue who “that idiot” was.

“Can… Can I go now?” Gai tried again. Maybe it was best to leave them be. And he had to get to school. He couldn’t arrive with them. That could attract Sohma Fan Club girls to him and then Asuma would do exactly what he did in their second year and get a week’s worth of detention again. Or maybe Kurenai would intervene, but he couldn’t count on Kurenai to stop Asuma’s rages. He had to be responsible for himself—a blond boy carrying a canvas bag full of stuff came in through the window. He decided to yell when he entered.

“Hey! Hey, eyebrow guy!” Neji and Kakahi sighed in unison. They were, now that Gai was looking, all standing in the hallway of the  _ second _ floor of the house. How did this boy scale a house to climb in through the window—Gai’s eyes locked onto something shiny in the bag. That was his, but how did that boy..?

“Here. This is one bag, there’s another one outside.” He handed the bag he was holding to Gai, who set the bag on the floor and pulled out the item that had caught his eye. A picture of his father. But how? He honestly didn’t care. He felt like he could cry.

“Thank you,” he told the blond, pausing when he realized he didn’t know his name.

“I’m Naruto.” He smiled at Gai. Neji huffed softly, stalking toward Naruto.

“That’s enough. Naruto, what are you doing here and why is this Maito Gai in our hallway?”

“I finished my training with sensei, so I came back to challenge you, you damn rat. And then, this guy, whose name is Gai and that’s cool I guess, was digging in the dirt from the landslide. I decided to bring him here since he looked like he needed some help. What’s your deal with helping people you selfish—”

“I don’t have anything against helping people, but have you forgotten Kakashi’s rules?” Neji sighed for possibly the third time before turning to Gai, “And you, why were you digging in the dirt from the landslide?”

“My tent got swallowed by mother nature in her passionate yet destructive beauty.” Neji and Naruto looked equally confused by his wording. 

“Well, that’s one way to say it,” Kakashi said, his own expression unreadable with the mask, “And, I see. That’s what you meant when you said you lived around here.”

“I was also wondering about that,” Neji added, “It would be impossible for someone to actually move into this area without us knowing. This whole forest is Sohma property.”

Gai paused. Oh, oh no. He was trespassing on their land. Quickly he had pushed passed Neji and Naruto and was at Kakashi’s feet apologizing profusely. He spoke animatedly.

“I’m so sorry for trespassing, please forgive me, Hatake-san.” Kakashi raised an eyebrow, surprised by the apology, but relatively unphased by the emotion. Share a classroom with Maito Gai and you would learn to expect this kind of intensity in every interaction.

“Ah, it’s okay…” Kakashi tried to reassure him but to no avail.

“I will do whatever it takes to make this up to you!” Gai shouted loud enough to make Neji cover his ears and glared at him. Naruto chimed in with something totally unrelated.

“Can we go downstairs? I’m really hungry.” He seemed excited by the prospect of eating.

“So you came to steal Kakashi’s food?” Neji asked him.

“No!” Naruto’s stomach rumbled, “Yes…”

“You also steal my food, Neji,” Kakashi said matter-of-factly. Neji’s cheeks tinted light pink.

The group went downstairs, with Gai continuing to apologize to Kakashi. When they reached the kitchen, he was still trying to make up for his apparent wrongdoings. Naruto had gone to get some breakfast from a cabinet nearly overflowing with different kinds of instant ramen. Neji followed him. Was all they ate instant ramen? Probably.

“How about this? I could,” Gai paused to look at Kakashi’s kitchen, noticing the mess of trash bags and other miscellaneous items scattered across the floor, “I could clean and cook for you. My father taught me how to do just about anything.”

Kakahi was about to decline but thought about it for a moment. Such help was definitely needed, he realized at the state of his kitchen. He was no stay-at-home dad, he didn’t know how to care for cousins, he could barely keep himself alive. Sure his grades were okay and he wasn’t dead, but household chores? That was not an area of expertise for him.

“Sure, to make up for trespassing you can help clean up the house,” he agreed. Gai grinned.

“I won’t disappoint you.” He gave a thumbs-up to Kakashi who nodded and gave a soft “okay.”

“Wait so eyebrows is our new cleaning lady?” Kakashi shrugged at Naruto’s question. That made enough sense. Neji, who was preparing his ramen, didn’t show any outward reaction to the news.

“Won’t he need to stay here then? This place is disgusting.”

“Naruto, half of this dirt is from you.” Neji didn’t even turn around from his spot at the counter.

“I’ve been gone for half a year!” Naruto, piping hot ramen hanging out of his mouth, fired back at Neji defensively.

“Kakashi is hiring a stranger from the woods to clean the house, does it seem like we actively clean?” Neji shot back, exasperated.

“I will clean your home without fail!” Gai didn’t notice the other conversations taking place around him. Kakashi sighed. What did he just do to his life? Nothing good, he figured.

Ten minutes later the entire group realized it was time for school. Naruto wasn’t going yet, having just got back the previous night, but everyone else was expected to attend. Gai was still in his uniform. In all the commotion, he hadn’ changed out of it. It was filthy from his rescue mission in the rubble. Neji was the one who noticed this.

“If you come to school with us looking like that, people will start talking,” he told Gai, “Wear Kakashi’s PE clothes instead. That will look slightly less suspicious.”

Gai nodded, of course. He would naturally agree to whatever they told him to do. Kakashi went to fetch the clothes and shoved them into his chest without a word. Gai went into their bathroom (after being directed by Naruto) to change. He might have been willing to change right there in the kitchen, but that would have made all persons present very uncomfortable.

Gai came back in his PE clothes and quickly grabbed his school bag from the bag Naruto had brought. It was clean, having not been in the landslide. He must have dropped in when he went after his dad. Naruto probably picked it up along with all his other things. He really needed to repay Naruto as well, for his kindness. To be so warm to someone you’d only just met. Remarkable.

“You’ll have to come back here after school. Can you manage that?” Kakashi asked Gai. Gai would need to come back to help clean and cook, gather his things, etc. Gai agreed.

Ready to go, the three boys went to school. Naruto seemed to have disappeared, but Kakashi told Gai he would hang around the house. As they walked the path to school, Gai realized how close the house was to where his tent had been set up. How had he never noticed this place?

They got to school quickly, though no one was walking exceptionally fast. They had at least a few minutes before class. Walking through the gates, the Sohma cousins and Gai went their separate ways. The minute Gai showed up in his PE clothes, he was barraged with questions from Asuma, most of them were about who needed to receive a death threat. Kurenai walked in a moment later and asked a similar question in a much more cryptic way. Gai assured them that everything was fine, he’d just tripped on the way to school. Multiple times, on his face, in the dirt. Asuma and Kurenai somehow believed that. Perhaps because of how clumsy Gai was in middle school. He nearly fell down the same flight of stairs every day then, so perhaps this was something similar? His clumsiness returning.

“If you’re sure you’re okay,” Kurenai assured. Asuma nodded, though he was still gripping his pipe and Gai felt bad for whoever annoyed him today. That poor person’s bones.

“I’m fine. Never been better, actually!” Gai smiled at them, hoping that was enough to deter them from asking any more, “Thanks for caring, Kure, Asu.” What was he supposed to tell them? I’m feeling horrible since my dad died and I just had a near mental breakdown in the woods because the tent I have been living in for a week was destroyed and some blond kid saved me and brought me to the house of the two most popular boys in school. And now I’m also their new cleaning lady? That is not the kind of thing you burden friends with.

The rest of the morning worked out fine. Classes went smoothly. Thankfully, the Sohma Fan Club girls didn’t see him near those two. Or at least they weren’t acting on that information. Perhaps today would be a good day. Then the first break came and complicated things further. Gai was walking down the hall, minding his own business. He was carrying Kakashi’s PE clothes and wearing his freshly washed uniform. Thank god for the school having a washing machine. He was about to put the PE clothes back into his bag to return later that day. He would need to wash them first though which meant he’d need to ask to use their washer. Which might be too much trouble. He was trying to formulate a kind of plan for these tasks when someone pulled him into the home economics room. Looking at the person, Gai recognized them

“Kaka—”

“Shh. Do you want at least five crazed teenage girls to bust in here?”

“No?”

“Good. I just need to ask you a few more things about our… arrangement.”

“Right. Of course.”

“Now that your, er, home has been destroyed. You need somewhere to stay, right?”

“Yes, but… Oh, no, no! I couldn’t possibly intrude—”

“For the next few days, which is as long as I think it will take to clean our house, you can stay with us. Alright? That’s the only way you’ll be able to. Plus, I’ll never hear the end of it from Naruto if I turn you out on the street. Deal?” He held out a hand to shake, Gai grasped it. He wasn’t sure he could decline the offer when it was put that way and didn’t want to sleep out on the streets either.

“Deal.” The next passing bell rang, signaling they needed to head back to 3-A for the next class.

“Well, see you later.” And Kakashi was gone once more. At least Gai had a place to stay.


End file.
